As I look back through the years before I gave my life to Christ, I recall the many, many times that I went searching for God, and yet in my journey to find Him in all the religions and denominational struggles of who was right and who was wrong, God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Here am I, the One that you are seeking”.
I found that religion itself did nothing for me but make me empty, yet in my earnest seeking, that emptiness drove me to find that only Jesus Himself could give me the peace that I was seeking and fill the void that was in my heart.
From my earliest years as a small child, I guess I must have attended every church that was in whatever town we might have lived in.
Being young, it never entered my mind that so many people had so many opinions and views of God and how to get to Him. But I was never swayed or disappointed to the point of giving up in my quest to find the answers that I was seeking in spite of the disagreements that I encountered in the churches that I attended.
As a child, I simply sought God out of my need for love, compassion, friendship and understanding.
As a youth, I recall seeking God for forgiveness in the mistakes that I was making as well as desiring a real need for wisdom in my life.
As a young adult, my need for God drove me to peruse Him on a deeper level. I began to hunger for God, in order to be cleansed from the guilt of my sins, for in those days I found that no matter how small or how big my sin may have been, I began to see them as God must have, and my heart grew heavier with the conviction that I was not living the life that I knew deep in my heart, that I should be living.
It was during those days of strong conviction and drawing, that God brought me to a personal understanding that I needed to give my life to Him and stop trying to let my religious knowledge about Him be my salvation and way to Him.
In my deep searching for the truth, I finally found out, that Jesus was right when He said in the book of John, that "He was the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that no man comes to God but through Him".
Many people will ignore and even pass through their conviction concerning their sin, salvation and need for a personsl relationship with God, never allowing that conviction to draw them to God, humbling their hearts in surrender to Him.
Eventually the pang of conviction goes away and with it goes the passing of the Spirit of God never to bother them again.
With some people, it seems to take longer for them to turn to God than it does others. Yet, for some, God knows that they will never turn to Him no matter how long He gives them or the conviction over sin that He places on their heart.
The scripture’s tell us that each man must work out his own salvation. Working out one’s own salvation does not mean that each individual person finds God in whatever religion that they choose to believe in. Their is only One Way according to the Word of God and that is Jesus Himself, and He told usthat.
What it does mean is that, no religion or denomination can give you salvation, not even yourself. Each person must find that out for themselves as they work through their own personal convictions that God brings into their lives.
Humanity can be assured that at some point in every life, the Creator of the universe and of all mankind will walk by one day tapping them on the shoulder and say to them (in whatever kind of words or picture or experience or expression He so choose to say) “Here am I, the One that you are seeking”; and when that happens, it will be up to that person as to how they respond to God’s invitation to receive salvation.
As I look back upon those days of my own personal journey to find God, I can recall with great understanding now, how God moved in and through every situation and circumstance using everything that touched my life to show Himself to me. Religion made me empty, but turning and surrendering my life to God through the work that His Son did on the cross for me, brought me the peace that I had been seeking and the joy of knowing what His suffering was all about!
The Bible tells us that it is our sin that separates us from God, and to be restored to him, we need only to repent and turn from oue sin to Him.
I am reminder of two men in the scriptures that God tapped on their shoulder as well, as He dealt with them in their sin. One surrendered; the other died without ever knowing the peace and restoration that could have been his, had he humbled his heart in brokenness to God over His sin.
Hold Fast,
-Bren
